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From: nerad@closus.DEC
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: On calling examples of race difference vs. sex difference studies
Message-ID: <271@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-May-84 10:53:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.271
Posted: Thu May 17 10:53:21 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 18-May-84 02:34:58 EDT
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 36

{libation...anyone here going to Rites of Spring?}

In the tradition of unpopular point raising in net.women...

Sex : a BIOLOGICAL gender distinction.  Homo sapiens has two sexes, 
biologically.  Male, and Female.  Genetic abherrations are known to occur 
rarely.  A universally recognized distinction.  ALSO : a SOCIOLOGICAL 
distinction used to delineate US from THEM (fill in the appropriate gender).

Race : a SOCIOLOGICAL and fuzzy distinction, which varies as a concept from 
culture to culture.  Usually based on skin tone.  It is difficult for many 
individuals from a particular culture to recognize the racial background of 
many individuals encountered within that culture, without being able to tag 
the object by dress, dialect, social status, or other purely cultural cue.  
Race biological distinctions (to my knowledge--I am not a biologist) tend to 
be no more dramatic than ethnic group differences.  (an example:  sickle cell 
anemia in blacks; tay sachs (sic?) in european jews...and I don't think you 
can qualify european jews as being a different race than other europeans.)
A controversial distinction.  A sociological distinction used to delineate US 
from THEM (if you can figure out who US or THEM are).

Racism and sexism may be similar prejudices in this culture--ergo, they are
treated similarly by the "soft" (sic) sciences.  However, one can not lean on
"hard" science make parallels between them.  They are completely contextually 
different.  

The next problem is where the "hard" and "soft" sciences delineate, and how 
objective anyone who studies racial and sexual biological-social borderline 
issues can be.


    			We who are about to die salute you...

    			Shava Nerad
    			Telematic Systems (@DEC Ed. Svcs.)
    			{decvax, allegra}!decwrl!rhea!closus!nerad